About This Fish

Species Name

Sea Bream

Image

About the Species

The sea bream (Pagrus pagrus) is also known as Guerito, Pinky, Pink Porgy and Rose Porgy, Strawberry Porgy or red porgy. It belongs to the family Sparidae under Order Perciformes of Class Actinopterygii. It is found in a wide variety of locations that range from Europe to the Caribbean, from New York to Argentina including the Gulf of Mexico, from the British Isles to the north and the Straits of Gibraltar, the Madeira and Canary Islands and Mediterranean Sea. Adult occurs over rock, rubble, or sand bottoms while young is frequently found on seagrass beds and the continental shelf down to about 250 m depths.

The sea bream is a medium-sized humpbacked fish with oblong moderately deep and compressed body. Head profile is rounded and strongly convex with small mouth. Body color is pinkish above and underside is iridescent silvery-white. Yellow color is seen on upper lip, snout and above eyes. It has a large head with a distinctive sloping forehead and large eyes. Head is darker from nape to rictus. Sometimes minute blue spots are present on upper sides, especially in young. A dusky area often present at the pectoral axil. Caudal fin is dark pink with distal part of lobes are white and central margin of fork is dark while other fins are pinkish in color. The dorsal fin has 11-13 spines and 9-10 soft rays while the anal fin contains 3 spines with 7-8 soft rays. The sea bream is carnivorous bottom feeder which feeds on crustaceans, mollusk, sea urchins, worms and small fish while young takes plankton and worms. It reaches sexual maturity at the age of 3 years. The sea bream spawns on the ocean floor during the period between late winter and early spring. It grows up to 91 cm in length and 17 kg in weight. It can live up to 18 years.